Leading the way to workplace culture: What it means to model mental health for your team [Part 1]

The last few years have inspired more conversations about mental health than the entire decade before it. Leaders have known long before the data confirmed it: workers are stretched thin, stressed out, and reconsidering their priorities.?

Everyone is feeling the pressure to make mental health a priority in the workplace, but it can be challenging to see the best path forward. While there is no single path to building a happier, healthier workplace, we want to help leaders find a simple but powerful way to show their teams what it means to care for their minds.?

It all starts with you: your mindset, your habits, and your relationship with yourself. When you take the time to strengthen your self-leadership, you also build habits worth modeling for your teams – eventually leading to an organic and authentic shift in culture that stems from your well-being.??

Fifty-seven percent of CEOs report that talking about their mental health makes them better leaders. The leaders who have started sharing their thoughts and feelings openly have seen the impact of two-way conversations. But what does it mean to model good mental health for your team??

Modeling what matters

Leaders have one of the strongest influences on culture – you have the power to shape a workplace that has a positive impact on workers’ lives and mental health. But that can feel like a lot of pressure on leaders who are already pushing through a shortage of time, resources, and staff. Thankfully, modeling what matters isn’t about putting more on your plate. It’s about showing your team they don’t need to burn out to be a team player.?

“If we show up as leaders who are taking care of our mental health, and we make it known that mental health is a priority to us, that can trickle down to our employees. It gives them radical permission to engage in self-care and to help foster a culture of care in your organization.”

• Dr. Wizdom Powell, Chief Social Impact & Diversity Officer at Headspace Health

When you build strong mental health habits, you can:

• Tune out distractions to stay in the present moment
• Observe neutrally, without immediate reaction
• See and reflect on your emotions before acting
• Transition between tasks or meetings with clarity and calm
• Have awareness of how your assumptions impact your thinking
• Know and protect your capacity to do good work
• Rest when you need it

It’s likely that you’re already practicing some of these skills some of the time. But as you gain more mastery, you become a stronger role model at work, too.?

“Talking about mental health is very new to a lot of people, but it’s no longer a taboo topic. And for leaders, that means being open about what you can do to help. Leaders are being called to stay open to their employees and give them the resources they need to do their best work. Leaders also have to shift their mindset about their own work. No one has to run themselves into the ground to run a good team.”?

• Shula Melamed, Senior Behavioral Health Coach at Headspace Health

Getting started

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re encouraging you to model the change you want to see in the workplace by being open and honest about mental health. This is the first in a series of articles that will help you focus on caring for your personal mental health so you can create the world you want to work in. Follow along next week as we dive into the internal world of your mental health: self-awareness and self-reflection.?

In the meantime, start building more resilience, focus, and self-compassion with short exercises in the Mental Health Matters collection in the Headspace app.

If you’re ready to explore more tools and resources for encouraging a culture of mental health at work, get your copy of a leader’s toolkit for workplace mental health here: https://www.headspace.com/model-what-matters.?

1. 2022 Workforce Attitudes Toward Mental Health Report . (2022). Headspace Health.